It used to be said that the form book gets thrown out the window when the derby comes along. With an equal depressive form book, there was not much to throw away, and the man in black complied in his own way as he kept his book in his back pocket till the eighty-fourth minute, when he brought out the yellow card for the first and last time in the game to book Heitinga. It was edgy as always, and it did get gritty but this was one Merseyside derby where the faint-hearted could go through without any tremors.

A long overdue clean sheet was finally kept and with one point in the bag, two goals at the other end of the pitch finally gave full three points to the men in red. A clean sheet was as expected as seeing Steven Gerrard leaving the pitch with clean socks but finally Pepe Reina’s dirty gloves kept everything out, and when Jo did beat him, it was only because he couldn’t beat the offside trap, and the Spaniard couldn’t be bothered either way. Reina was his usual self-assured guy, but his save over Fellaini was far from usual and deserves a place with the superlative saves by any keeper.

Javier Mascherano as usual tried his luck when he found himself in the opposition territory with a ball in his feet and a slight view of the goal. And as usual his shot left much to be desired and was destined to the corner of the net as much as was Darren Bent’s shot in the Sunderland match. Reina was welcomed with a beach ball to remind us of the event but Yobo’s feet ended up as effective as Howard got wrong footed and could only dive helplessly. Mascherano ran the whole length of the pitch to celebrate his second goal in Liverpool colours albeit later the goal was attributed as an own goal by the former. That is only mere detail, as there can be no doubt about the Argentinean’s input in these last games and nobody will begrudge him for it even after an unusual slow start where probably his head was all over the place with Messi on his phone every single day.

With a goal to the good, like last week Liverpool did revert into a negative mode and it was their Bilyaletdinov’s wastefulness in front of goal that kept the lead intact. The midfield was at times getting overran, with Steven Gerrard in subdued form and clearly far from full match fitness. Extraordinary circumstances though call for extraordinary personalities and even though having a poor game by his own standards at the end he proved vital in the setting-up of the second goal that confirmed the bragging rights for the red part of Liverpool and the much needed three points. Before, the two men rubbed in placenta gave the red midfield a somewhat new lease of life and equally to the captain, Albert Riera was vital in the setting up of the second goal as his shot stretched Howard to the limit only for Dirk Kuyt to prod in.

The pressure has now slightly relented from the manager and his squad, but as much as enjoyable a derby victory always is, recent history teaches us that it is too early to talk of finally turning round the corner or even a kick-start to the season. But a welcome push forward it surely is.